STANSW Young Scientist Competition

Mr Botto is excited to announce that Cranbrook Junior School will be allowing students from Y3-Y6 to enter the Young Scientist Competition for the first time.

What is the STANSW Young Scientist Competition? Young Scientist is a major project of the Science Teachers’ Association of NSW (STANSW). It is an annual curriculum-based STEM initiative that inspires authentic student investigations and inventions in science and technology. The competition aims to nurture creativity, innovation and problem-solving skills, and recognise and celebrate the achievements of young scientists.

Students conduct a scientific investigation and/or design and build a model of an innovative device or application over three months. They then share their findings in a written report. Schools are then invited to submit their best entries for judging at the state-wide Young Scientist Awards, which celebrates student achievement with many awards and prizes available. Students will meet with Mr Botto once a week at either recess or lunch to discuss where they are up to in their process and get feedback, guidance and advice on their project. Students are to then spend afternoons and weekends slowly working on their experiments, designs and logbooks at home each week.

The due date for completed project is Friday, 18 August.

Students and parents can visit the competition website (https://stansw.asn.au/YoungScientist/YoungScientist/YS-Home.aspx) to learn more about the categories and rules, as well as view past submitted projects.

The majority of the work done for students Young Scientist entries is done at home. Although an individual student project, this means parents need to be aware and involved in certain aspects of the competition. If you feel this competition is something your son would like to compete in, please ask him to grab a form from Mr Botto at one of the recess or lunch meetings, so you can sign and return the permission slip alerting us of your parental permission.

Although a big commitment both in time and in effort, this competition is a great opportunity for students to go beyond the classroom and explore their own interests in the science and technology fields.